Take a Megabite

Applesauce Cake

Consider these the hip cousin of the petit four.
Or just consider it tasty, and slice it into big pieces instead.

Laura over at Rather Be Baking knows what’s up. I believed her when she said to trust her on this cake. She’s totally right; it’s the best.

This is just the perfect weeknight cake. It comes together quickly, in one bowl and bakes up in only 30 minutes. Chances are you’ll want to keep eating slivers of this cake as you walk by. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Applesauce Cake
Recipe adapted from Betty Crocker via Rather Be Baking

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 1/2 t baking soda
• 3/4 t baking powder
• 1 t salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 t cinnamon
• 1/4 t nutmeg
• 1/8 t cloves
• 1/8 t ginger
• cinnamon frosting (optional), recipe follows

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 9×13 inch pan with foil and spray with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. Beat all of the ingredients together for 3 minutes.
3. Pour in prepared dish and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
4. Cool completely before slicing into bite size pieces.
5. Top with a smidgen of cinnamon frosting, if you’re feelin’ it.

Cinnamon Frosting

• 3 T butter, softened
• generous sprinkling of cinnamon
• 1 heaping cup powdered sugar
• 1 T milk

Directions:

1. Beat all of the ingredients together and pipe a teeny flour on each cake bite.

And here’s Elliot, looking like such a gentleman.

I bet you wouldn’t even believe that he stole some cake off the table like a jerk.
So there you go! Both Jake AND Elliot love this cake.

Crumb Apple Pie

Mix up and refrigerate the pie crust. Run to the store and get more butter. Maybe get some heavy whip for vanilla whipped cream. Maybe the sales associates will assume you’re a very unhealthy person. Maybe they think you’re weird for getting giant bacon dog treats along with the fatty goodness. For sure you get home and finish the making home made pie and the joke’s on them. Don’t forget to “cheers!” your first bite. And with a clink of forks, it’s the first apple pie of the season.

I’m still surprised that childhood recipes are actually possible on any given day. Potato rolls with dinner? No problem. Crumb Apple pie because Jake and I are feeling especially seasonal? Let’s make it. I still save some things just for the holidays, just so they remain something for special occasions.

Crumb Apple Pie
Recipe from Farm Journal’s Complete Pie Cookbook + my childhood

Ingredients:

• Unbaked 9″ pie shell (recipe below)

Apple Filling-

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 T flour
• 1/2 – 1t cinnamon
• 1/8 t nutmeg
• 1/4 t salt
• 6-7 cups sliced 1/4 inch thick,  peeled apples

Crumb Topping-

• 1/2 cup coldish butter, cubed
• 1/2 cup brown sugar firmly packed
• 1 cup flour

Directions:

1. Make pastry for 1-crust pie and line 9″ pie pan. (recipe below)
2. Combine sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Mix lightly through apples. Heap in pastry-lined 9″ pie pan.
3. Make crumb topping by rubbing butter into flour and brown sugar, until it resembles coarse crumbs and sprinkle evenly over the apples.
4. Bake in a hot 400 F for 45-55 minutes. (After about 30 minutes some crumbs were getting a bit too tan (burnt!) but the pie wasn’t done. If this happens to you, simply tent foil over the pie and bake for the remaining amount of time.)
5. Allow to cool for about 20 minutes and slice and eat.
6. Serve with vanilla ice cream or simple Vanilla Whipped Cream.

One 9″ Pie Crust
Recipe from Martha Stewart

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 t salt
• 1 t sugar
• 1 stick chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 2-3 T ice water

Directions:

1. Whisk together dry ingredients (flour, salt and sugar). Cut 1 stick of butter into pieces.  Using your hands (or pastry blender), rub butter into dry ingredients until mixture resembles coarse meal.
2. Add 2 tablespoons ice water; work with hands until dough comes together. If dough is still crumbly, add more ice water a tablespoon at a time until it forms a nice dough when pressed together.
3. Flatten dough into a disk and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for at least an hour.
4. Roll out and line a 9″ pie pan.

This is the pie recipe is from my childhood, and my mom just mailed me the cookbook. See the star by the variation for the crumb apple pie? Delish, and memorable.

Apple Crumble Bars

I am really loving fall. My three top reasons are the following:
1. Anything pumpkin
2. Boots of all varieties
3. Anything that contains both apples and a crumble topping

They are REALLY good. I recommend making them promptly. And, don’t worry, they’ll be done before Mad Men.

These are so good that even the most prim and proper lady is likely to curse aloud exclaiming the goodness of these for all to hear!

Apple Crumble Bars
Recipe adapted from Pete Bakes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1/4 t salt
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened
• 3 cups apples, peeled and diced ( about 3 apples)
• 1/2 t cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line an 8 x 8 dish with aluminum foil. Spray with cooking spray and set aside.
2. Combine flour, salt, and sugars in a bowl. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients until mixture resembles crumbs, using a wooden spoon or your hands to rub the butter into the dry ingredients.
3. Take 1/2 cup of the crumb mixture and mix it with the apples. Add the cinnamon as well and set aside once mixed.
4. Take 1/2 of the remaining crumb mixture and press it into the bottom of the prepared pan and bake for 10 minutes.
5. Remove crust from oven and pour the apple mixture into the dish and top with remaining crumbs. Gently press the crumbs down slightly. Put back in the oven for 45 minutes.
6. When it’s done the top should be a beautiful golden brown. Cool pan on a wire rack and then remove the bars using tin foil and cut into them for the most delicious apple crumbly goodness ever.

Pocket Apple Pies

I’m sick of sandwiches. I had them for lunch and dinner pretty much all week. I’m never sick of apple pie.

I am pretty happy that tonight Jacob made a huge dinner instead of my lazy sandwiches.
I decided to make these pocket pies for dessert.

They turned out delicious and perfect one person portions. I baked two out of the eight pies this recipe made and froze the rest so that at any time of day I can simply have a freshly baked pocket pie in my life and my belly.

I use the same apple pie filling used in my Mini Dutch Apple Galettes.
This pie crust recipe has just a little bit more sugar (2 T instead of 2 t) than my Perfect Pie Crust recipe. I thought I’d try it out and it turned out delicious. So it’s up to you on the sugar content of your crust.

(I figured I’d retype the info so that you guys can have this recipe all in one place!)

Pocket Apple Pies
Apple Pocket Pie Mold from Williams-Sonoma. I really recommend it! They have a pumpkin one too! They are pretty fun, don’t you think?

Pocket Pie Crust
Recipe from Williams-Sonoma

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 t salt
• 2 T sugar, plus more for sprinkling
• 16 T cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
• 6-8 T ice water
• 1 egg slightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon water

Apple Pie Filling (makes a heaping cup and a half)
Recipe adapted from Farm Journal’s Complete Pie Cookbook

• 2 or 3 baking apples, cored, peeled, and sliced. (I used one macintosh and one granny smith)
• 1/3 cups sugar
• 1 T flour
• 1/2 t cinnamon
• pinch of nutmeg
• pinch of salt

Directions:

1. Make pie crust. Whisk together flour, salt and sugar. Cut butter into the flour mixture until it looks like crumbs and there are no butter pieces bigger than a pea. Add 6 tablespoons of  ice water all at once and mix just until the dough starts to come together. The dough should hold together when squeezed with your fingers but should not be sticky. If it is crumbly at all add a little bit more water 1 teaspoon at a time. Gather the dough in your hands, divide in half and shape each half into a disk. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes to an hour before rolling out.
2. Meanwhile make your apple pie filling. Mix the sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a small bowl. Mix lightly through apples. Set aside.
3. On a floured surface roll out 1 dough disk into a round 1/16 – 1/8 inch thick. Brush off excess flour.
4. Using apple pie mold, cut out 8 of each shape (4 with the decorative cutout and 4 without). Roll out the other disk of dough and do the same. (If you don’t have this snazzy pie mold just use a large cookie cutter and prick with a fork before baking.) Make egg wash by whisking together one egg and one teaspoon of water in a small bowl.
5. Use the pie mold. Place a solid dough shape in the bottom half of the cutter and gently press dough into the mold. Fill the center with 1-2 tablespoons pie filling and brush edges of the dough with egg wash. Top with matching shape that has the decorative cutout. Press top half of the cutter down to seal and crimp the edges of the pie. Remove pie from mold and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and freeze the pies for 20 to 30 minutes before baking.
6. Brush the pies with the egg wash and sprinkle with sugar. Bake until the crust is golden brown and the filling is gently bubbling. 15-20 minutes. I baked them for 15 minutes and then tented them with tin foil for the remaining 5 minutes to prevent the crust from getting too dark. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. (Recipe makes about 8 pocket pies)

These would be really good with carmel sauce drizzled on top and perhaps with some vanilla ice cream or whipped cream! These are the perfect size! I’m also thinking I want to make some savory pies with this mold. Yum!

Apple Coffee Cake with Crumble Topping & Brown Sugar Glaze

I remember this episode of Garfield from when I was a little girl where there was free ice cream in the park, and he kept going back for more by wearing a fake mustache, a hat, sunglasses, or other various disguises. Speaking of disguises. This is a dessert disguised as breakfast. Make it for house guests this lovely Labor Day, and you’ll be glad you did. People might even put on fake mustaches when they go get piece number three.

I thought about remaking this into muffins…but there’s something about the middle piece of a coffee cake that held me back. I’m not always a fan of apples baked into cakes, but this is delicious. It’s a brown sugar cinnamon cake with crumbled goodness and then even more brown sugar drizzled on top. I happen to love brown sugar and the glaze put me over the top in my need to make this. I was daydreaming about it, and it sure didn’t disappoint.

Apple Coffee Cake with Crumble Topping and Brown Sugar Glaze
Recipe adapted from Emeril Lagasse . Bam?

Ingredients:

Cake -

• 4 T unsalted butter (1/2 stick), softened +1 t
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup flour
• 1 egg
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/2 t cinnamon
• 1/4 t salt
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 t vanilla
• 1 heaping cup of chopped apples, peeled for sure (about 1 large apple)

Crumble Topping -

• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 t cinnamon
• 2 T unsalted butter, softened

Brown Sugar Glaze -

• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 t vanilla extract
• 1 T water

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease an 8 x 8 baking dish with one teaspoon of softened butter.
2. Make cake. In a large bowl cream together four tablespoons of softened butter and brown sugar. Add egg, beat. In a small bowl sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In another small bowl whisk together sour cream and vanilla. Add flour mixture to butter mixture alternating with sour cream and vanilla. Fold in apples. Pour into prepared baking dish, spreading to edges.
3. Make crumble topping. Combine sugar, flour, cinnamon and butter with a fork until it resembles coarse crumbs and sprinkle on top. Bake 30-35 minutes or until golden and set. Cool 10 minutes.
4. Make glaze. In a small bowl combine sugar, vanilla and water and mix until smooth. Drizzle cake with glaze and let harden slightly. Allow to cool for about 20 minutes for easier serving. (Simply double if you want to make it in a 9 x 13 pan.)

The smell of this baking is like going to the cider mill for the first time when the leaves start changing.

Mini Dutch Apple Galettes

Every fall, the trees along the sidewalk place the prettiest of their leaves in my path for me to find! Sometimes I put them in my pocket and bring them home. It’d be rude not to! They were gifts after all…but it’s not fall yet is it? It’s August!

…but today feels like fall, and to be honest, I’m having a hard time embracing it. But this recipe (and maybe a new pair of boots) is  just the thing I needed to rekindle the love.

This is my attempt at a mini version my mom’s famous apple pie. If you like apples and cinnamon sugar and a delectable dutch-style crumb topping, then you’ll absolutely LOVE these.

Mini Dutch Apple Galettes (makes eight)
Recipe adapted from: Recipezaar + Farm Journal Complete Pie Cookbook

Ingredients:

Galette Dough-

• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 1 T sugar
• 1/4 t kosher salt
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter (1/2 stick), cold and cut into cubes
• 1/3 cup ice water

Apples-

• 2 or 3 baking apples, cored, sliced and peeled. (I used Paula Red, and sliced them about 1/4 inch thick)
• 1/3 cups sugar
• 1 T flour
• 1/2 t cinnamon
• pinch of nutmeg
• pinch of salt

Crumb Topping-

• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter (1/2 stick), cold and cut into cubes
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed

Directions:

1. Make galette dough: mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Cut in the butter until it is distributed through the flour, but still in large, pea-sized chunks. Add the ice water all at once and mix just until the dough starts to come together. Gather the dough in your hands, divide in half and shape each half into a disk- don’t worry if you see large streaks of butter- they are supposed to be there. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour before rolling out.
2. Cut each disk into 4 equal pieces. Roll out each disk of dough on a lightly floured surface, about 1/8-inch thick.  Settle each circle of dough onto a baking sheet or two lined with parchment paper.
3. Prepare apples: mix the sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a small bowl. Mix lightly through apples. Divide the apples amongst the dough leaving about a 1/2 inch border.
4. Make crumb topping:  cut butter into flour using a pastry blender or your fingers. When it resembles crumbs and butter pieces are no bigger than a pea stir in the brown sugar. Sprinkle about 1 1/2 Tablespoons of crumb topping over apples. Fold the borders of dough up slightly over the filling, allowing it to pleat as you work your way around.
5. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes, or until apples are bubbling and crust is slightly browned.